Le Touyou (Ostrich) and Le Casoar (Cassowary). Fournier engraving after Travies c1820.
$45.00
Le Touyou (South American Ostrich), and Le Casoar (Cassowary). Hand-coloured engraving by Fournier after Travies for Suites a Buffon by Bernard Germain Étienne de la Ville sur Illon, Comte de Lacepede. Published Paris circa 1820.
Original engraving by Fournier, after the drawing by Edouard Travies for Suites a Buffon, which Lacepede published in Paris, updating Histoire Naturelle Generale et Particuliere avec la description du cabinet du roi (Natural History, General and Particular, with the description from the King’s library), which was the first edition of the 36 volume work published in Paris from 1749 to 1788 by Georg-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788).
Buffon (1707-1788), was a French naturalist, biologist, mathematician and cosmologist. As a student of the Academy of Science in Paris, Buffon challenged religious dogmas, and greatly influenced the separation of theology from science. He suggested that man and ape might be connected through a scientific common ancestry, and believed the Earth was more than 6,000 years old.
Buffon was director of the Jardin du Roi (King’s Garden) in Paris, and his well-illustrated publications greatly increased scientific knowledge and influenced other naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Charles Darwin. In 1785 Buffon appointed Bernard Germain Etienne de la Ville sur Illon, Comte de Lacepede (1756-1825) as his assistant. When the Jardin du Roi was re-organized as Jardin du Plantes, Lacepede was appointed to head the study of reptiles and fish. Lacepede was appointed Zoology professor at the Paris Natural History Museum, and completed publication of eight more volumes of Buffon’s work between 1798 and 1803. Buffon's comprehensive recording of fauna was also updated and reissued many times after Buffon’s death.
This is a very fine engraving with contemporary hand-colour. The page has slight damage at edges, but otherwise is in good condition. Page size is 220 x 159mm (8 5/8 x 6 inches).
